


Wolf-san

by Akkina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Hatake Kakashi, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-10-13 05:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10507527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akkina/pseuds/Akkina
Summary: Standing under the sakura tree in the courtyard of his building was an ANBU. Not a good thing to see on a normal occasion, but to have one lingering directly in Iruka’s path to his front door? It really wasn’t his day…





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece I've had in my brain for ages, literally years and I finally got a good start on it. I will probably continue it from here. Let me know if that's something ya'll would like!

Pausing along the side of his apartment building Iruka froze, breath stuttering in his chest. Hands full of plastic bags of groceries from the shop around the corner and his bag thrown over one shoulder he wasn’t exactly the image of a perfect shinobi in that moment. Standing under the sakura tree in the courtyard of his building was an ANBU. Not a good thing to see on a normal occasion, but to have one lingering directly in Iruka’s path to his front door? It really wasn’t his day…

  
The ANBU was tall, taller than Iruka by an inch or so he was rail thin under his cloak and all legs from the look of it. His hood was pulled up, and all that Iruka could see from here was the white and red of his mask. A wolf.

  
“Umino-sensei,” the ANBU said, voice thin and tired like he’d already been working too much

.  
“ANBU-san,” Iruka acknowledged the special nin uncomfortably, “What can I do for you?” Iruka forced himself to walk forward like he wasn’t a bit concerned for his bodily safety, if the ANBU had wanted him dead, he wouldn’t have made it this far, and it wasn’t in usual ANBU taste to play with their prey.

  
“I have a letter for you, from a certain blond knucklehead,” Wolf said simply, jutting out one hand that clutched a rumpled orange envelope with Uzumaki swirls drawn on it. The sudden move made Iruka flinch a bit but he sucked in a breath and sat down his groceries quickly.

  
“From Naruto? It’s been two months since I’ve heard anything from him,” Iruka said. Once Naruto had left with Jaraiya, and his location had become classified, even letters were forbidden, to keep the boy safe. Iruka had gone to Tsunade and begged her for something, anything about how he was doing. She’d simply given him a ‘He’s fine Iruka-sensei, don’t worry’. He still worried

  
“I know it’s been a while, he misses you,” Wolf said, voice warming some. He still sounded painfully tired.

  
“You spoke to him? Is he doing alright? How is his training?” Iruka couldn’t stop the flood of words out of his mouth once he’d started. Gulping, Iruka calmed himself and took the offered letter with a weak smile. “I’m sorry, I just worry about him,” he said.

  
Wolf simply seemed amused with his response, making a strange little chuckle in the back of his throat, “I know you do, you love him a lot.”  
Turning from Iruka, Wolf strode away, shoulders hunched and hands shoved deep in his pockets as he meandered away from the courtyard and away from the chuunin. Iruka turned to watch him leave, shoving the envelope into his vest pocket before turning for his door.

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
It had been two weeks since Wolf had made his appearance, Iruka had all but forgotten about it with how busy he’d been. Graduation was coming up, and he had students to prepare, last minute lesson plans to get approved, that and planning the ceremony and working the missions desk. He was running himself ragged and it was beginning to show. Exhaustion had been his constant companion, as well as a lot of coffee, which was not a beverage Iruka usually partook in, but this time? It was a requirement. Blessedly though, it was Friday and he had the whole weekend off for a change. He had planned absolutely nothing, save for laying around in his underwear all day and reading, just because he wanted to.

  
Too tired for dinner, Iruka stumbled his way into his room and changed into pajamas. It was late, nearly eleven, he’d picked up the late shift at the missions desk after Raido had called in sick. Turning to crawl onto his futon he looked up at the window and caught sight of the porcelain mask glinting in the light from the hallway. Wolf was perched on the precarious metal plant rack he’d hung outside his bedroom window and dripping wet. It had begun to rain on Iruka’s way home, thankfully not too far from his building or he’d have been as soaked to the bone as the ANBU was currently. Dragging the window open Iruka took a step back to let Wolf crawl through it, dripping on his hardwood floors. Wet like this, Wolf looked even skinnier, and his hair, white as snow was hanging lip and unruly across the top of his mask.

  
“Wolf-san…” Iruka sighed and went to the bathroom, he returned with two towels, and his fluffy bathrobe that Naruto had given him. “Dry off, I’ll make some tea,” he said simply. If someone had asked him before, if he’d invite an ANBU in for tea like this, he would have laughed at them. This was crazy!

  
Wolf stood there for a long moment, staring at the towels in his hand before shuffling to dry his hair off. “Thank you, Umino-sensei,” he called out as Iruka wandered down the hallway.  
“Feel free to change, or use a warming jutsu, or whatever you ANBU do when your soaked to the bone. If you change, I can throw your clothes in the dryer,” Iruka called back like it was no big deal.

  
Minutes later the ANBU carefully walked into the living room, holding his sandals in one hand, an one of the towels draped across the back of his neck. He looked dryer than he had been before, and was thankfully not dripping on the floor anymore. Iruka bustled into the room and sat down a steaming mug of tea and a sandwich on the kotatsu in the living room.  
“Stay as long as you like, eat, dry off. I haven’t slept in days, which I’m sure you understand, so I’m going to bed,” Iruka said with a tired, wry smile before heading back down the hallway. Wolf turned to watch him go in what Iruka assumed to be confusion. Crawling into bed felt like a gods send, warm and snuggly Iruka listened to Wolf drink his tea for a few minutes before sleep overtook him.

  
He didn’t wake up until nearly ten the next morning, and didn’t crawl out of bed until his bladder twinged angrily. In his living room there was no sign Wolf had been there, save for tattered blue envelope with frogs on it, and the faint, damp smell of rain. The mug and plate from the night before were washed and settled on the drying rack in the kitchen. At least his guest was polite. Pinned on the fridge with one of the silly magnets Iruka’s students had made him was his usual grocery list, but scribbled at the bottom, in neat, cramped handwriting, ‘green tea ice cream’, the bastard had found his stash!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Three months Iruka waited for his next visit, fall drug out into the beginnings of winter, cold and biting with blowing snow before the ANBU made his appearance again. It was late again, one in the morning, and Iruka was trudging home through the quickly accumulating snow. He was thankful he’d donned the oddly knit green hat, and matching scarf one of the parent’s had made him this morning.

  
It was so similar to the first visit, Wolf was standing under the tree, leaning against the bark like he belonged there, but there was something different this time. The white snow at his feet was pooling with blood rather quickly.

  
“Wolf-san?” Iruka called anxiously. Trotting up, he held out his hands infront of him, palm out in the universal sign for ‘I come in peace’. He pointedly didn’t touch the other man, not wanting to set him off.

  
The ANBU swayed on his feet and didn’t protest when Iruka’s hands came up to catch him. One hand on his ribs, the other his shoulder as the teacher steadied him. “Umino-san…I brought you another letter,” he drawled.

  
“Let’s save that for later, I think you need to go to the hospital,” Iruka said.

  
“No hospital, it’s not that bad…Just need to stop the bleeding,” Wolf shrugged.

  
Iruka draped the taller man’s arm across his shoulders and wrapped an arm around his waist before shuffling them towards his doorway. The source of the bleeding was Wolf’s thigh where a deep stab wound was pretty obvious once they got into better light. The ANBU smelled of wood smoke and dirt, and the all too familiar tang of blood.

“I’m not a medic nin, but I can at least bandage you up,” Iruka said, shuffling Wolf into the kitchen and towards the table. “Either take off your pants, or I’m going to cut it,” he said and rushed off to the bathroom to fetch his first aid kit. Wolf snorted behind him in amusement.

  
“If you wanted in my pants, all you had to do was ask,” the ANBU called after him.

  
Iruka returned to his kitchen to see the ANBU mostly stripped down, in just his black undershirt and shorts, his pants and outer chest piece placed on the table. The wound to his thigh was deep, and still bleeding but not as bad as Iruka had initially thought. Tsking sharply he opened the kit and set to work, applying pressure to the wound hard enough to make his guest hiss with pain before wrapping it tightly. The pale skin under his fingertips was like ice from the cold outside, and just the touch of him made Wolf’s skin break into goose bumps.  
“You’re lucky you didn’t get frost bite,” Iruka snapped and lifted Wolf up out of his chair and into the living room. Depositing his charge onto the sofa he gathered up all the blankets he had in his house, including the one from his own bed.

  
“Maa sensei, it’s not like anyone would miss me,” Wolf said with a languid shrug as the bedding was piled around him. Iruka glared hard at the man for a long moment, and shook his head.

  
“I’d care you nit wit, not settle in and I’ll make some tea.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think! Also, feel free to comment any ideas you might have! What do you think Iruka's reaction is going to be when he finds out? Maybe he guessed? Let me have it guys!  
> Also, thank you so much for all of your support and love for this fic!

               The rainy season passed quickly into the thick, muggy heat of summer as quickly as the spring rains came. No one in the Village Hidden in the Leaves was safe from the heat, not Tsunade, and certainly not the ANBU. Wolf didn’t appear for weeks after their last meeting, but when Iruka saw him he appeared in much worse shape than their last meeting.        

                As had seemingly become a tradition, Iruka spotted Wolf perched on the plant rack at his bedroom window. Silver hair limp with the humidity, and his skin slicked with sweat. It was late. Iruka had gone out with Anko and Raido after a long, miserable day at the missions desk that had come with far too much chilled sake and cold beer. Dragging the window open Iruka blinked owlishly at the silver haired ANBU, cheeks flushed with the alcohol.

                “Wolf,” Iruka said simply, stepping back to let the man enter his bedroom.

                “Iruka-sensei…you’re drunk,” he replied, sounding shocked. The giggle that burst out of Iruka was loud and surprising, one of his hands coming to cover his mouth to stifle the noise.

                “I’m allowed aren’t I, Wolf?” Iruka chirped, swaying on his feet. “Come on, I’ll make you a drink, and probably pass out,” he said, wandering into the main portion of his apartment.

                “Iruka-“ Wolf began, startled at the brashness of his host.

                “I’ll even cover my eyes if you’ll drink with me Wolf, how about it? I’ll be too drunk to remember in the morning anyway!” Iruka cowed. Wolf had little choice but to follow the man as he fumbled around the kitchen for a bottle of sake that had been chilling in his freezer and two cups.

                Within minutes Iruka had them perched at the kotatsu, the sake spread between them and Iruka’s hitai-ate pulled over his eyes to keep his vision from his guest. “You’ll have to pour,” he teased, tapping his fingertips on the table in front of him.

                Wolf snorted in amusement and pulled his mask from his face and sitting it aside. Kakashi peered at the sensei for a brief moment before taking the sake and pouring out two cups. “You just want to get me drunk, don’t you sensei?” it was shocking how easy it was to leave Wolf behind and to slide back into Hatake Kakashi.

                “Maybe I do? Not like I’m going to see that handsome face, but I think I’ll get over it,” Iruka teased, fingers searching for his cup when Kakashi pushed it towards him. “Maybe I just have ulterior motives.”

                “And what might those be?” Kakashi teased, taking a long sip of the ice cold sake with a pleased grumble.

                “I feel closer to you than I do to  people I’ve known for years, there’s something nice about the…anonymity,” Iruka said. “Not that I wouldn’t want to get to know you better.” Iruka let Kakashi take two glasses before he’d finished his first to let the other man catch up to his drunkenness level.

                “Mah sensei,” Kakashi began, swirling his finger around the edge of the cup. “Why is that? That you feel closer to me?”

                “Since I don’t know you, really know you I mean, there is something peaceful about sharing things with you because I don’t have to hide it, or temper what I’d say because I think you’d get offended. You get to see the real me,” he said, as if it really was as simple as that. Kakashi made an agreeable hum in the back of his throat and Iruka continued, “I know the kinds of missions they send you on, the things they ask you to do, and I bet that you get some sort of enjoyment of coming to my place and just being…you, or at least I hope so.”

                Kakashi looked at him sharply, taking the cup full of sake under his fingers with a deep swallow. Iruka was uncannily accurate, it was peaceful sitting on Iruka’s floor drinking with him, just like he was any old man, and not a dangerous killer.

                “It doesn’t scare you, what I am?” Kakashi questioned, head titled to one side, even though Iruka couldn’t see it.

                “It did at first, until I thought about it more,” Iruka admitted. “I’m not a strong ninja, I’m proficient, and useful, but my power comes from my people skills,” he shrugged. “Are you scared?” he questioned.

                Kakashi actually gave that a long, thoughtful pause, “Yeah, yeah I am. It scares me that despite how dangerous I am, that you trust me to sit like this, at my mercy.”

                “Wolf…you know that despite what you do, and what you are, that you’re still human? That you still deserve companionship and care, right?” Iruka reached across the table and floundered for a moment for Kakashi’s hand. The ANBU had to hold back the flinch at the warm touch. “That you’re allowed to let people care about you?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long break, I can say for certain that I have finally finished a piece!

Wolf-San chapter 3

 

Autumn crawled upon Konoha, it began at first as just a few fallen leaves on a warm day, and before long the chill winds kicked up, bringing with it the crisp scent and promise of coming snow. Iruka had not seen Wolf since their drunken talk, and despite what he had said, Iruka remembered the whole night vividly. He remembered his words, what he'd said to the ANBU soldier on his couch, the stink of alcohol thick. It certainly hadn't been Iruka's intention to scare off the other man, but that was what he feared he had done.

 

There next meeting certainly wasn't a planned event, it had been a long. Isn't in the Missions room, punctuated by a visit from Kakashi and his miserable, horribly written report that Iruka had demanded on sight, before he had even read a word that Kakashi park his ass and redo it.

 

"This isn't going to work this time Hatake-San, you are going to sit right there's and rewrite that report until I am satisfied," Iruka barked, glaring up at the masked jounin. The older man peered at him Ike he was perplexed before his visible eye closed into the happy little crescent it made when he smiled.

 

"If you insist, Umino-sensei," he chirped and took the  uncomfortable wooden chair opposite Iruka at his desk, fishing a pen out of the ridiculously painted cup perched on the desk top, squiggled letters proclaimed '#1 teacher' inside a red heart. Iruka watched him for several minutes as Kakashi scratched at his fresh report form, looking for all the world like he was biting his lip under his mask in concentration.

 

It took Kakashi a uncomfortable amount of time, but Iruka kept quite, he could see the legible chicken scratch Kakashi was filling in as he wrote. Kami be damned, Iruka would sit here all night if Kakashi would turn in a legible report.

 

"I'm sorry sensei, for taking up so much of your time," Kakashi said gently after nearly 45 minutes, sitting his pen to the side. "It's past the end of your shift is it not?" 

 

"It is," Iruka nodded his agreement, tucking a crookedly knot blue hat on top of his head. "But, for your first, and likely only perfect report? I'll wait." Kakashi laughed, a breathy exhale through his nose and he stood up with Iruka when the shorter man rose. 

 

"How about I treat you to dinner then?" he queried, head tilted to the side. Blinking up at Kakashi, Iruka pulled his bag onto his shoulder before zipping his vest up fully to protect him against the brisk wind outside. "Ichiraku's, to save us from the cold?"

 

"Sure, but your going to regret it." Iruka replied. Kakashi looked confused. "Naruto had to learn his love of ramen from someone."

 

Dinner was a fairly quiet affair, the two put away two bowls of ramen briskly before exiting the restaurant, each rubbing their stomachs and mumbling. 

 

"Goodnight, Hatake-San," Iruka said.

 

"Kakashi, please, and goodnight Iruka-sensei."

 

The walk back to his apartment was a cold journey, he rubbed at his arms firmly to try and draw some warmth into his limbs. Warm winter sandals slapping against the damn pavement as he walked, the village was still alive. People bustling in apartments or the front doors of bars, chatting quietly amongst themselves or barking with laughter. 

 

Standing under the street lamp beside Iruka's building was a familiar long body, leaning against the metal and watching Iruka as he walked closer. He couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his face when he paused beside the ANBU. 

 

"Wolf," he said, "Returning from a mission?" 

 

"In a way I suppose," Wolf's tone was lazy, sluggish. "I brought you a letter." he offered the letter, a simple white envelope, Iruka's name scratched out in green pen on the front like it had been a last minute thought. 

 

"Thank you," he smiled warmly, taking the envelope and pushing it into the top of his bag. "Would you like a hot drink before you go?" Wolf hummed idly for a long moment before bobbing his head in agreement. 

 

Iruka puttered around in the kitchen for a long while, whipping out a pan, and a half gallon of milk from his fridge. Wolf lingered at the kitchen table, one of Iruka's ratty paperback romance novels off the shelf in the living room in hand and was perusing through it. 

 

"Hot chocolate alright? I feel like something sweet," Iruka called over his shoulder. He received no response, but upon looking back, Wolf was fully engaged in the book, grasping it in one hand and slumping back in his chair like another familiar person. Plunking the mug down in front of Wolf, Iruka sat across from him, stretching his legs out under the table till be bumped toes with the other man. Wolf glanced up at him, and Iruka was certain a brow had been raised. 

 

"I'm sorry if I freaked you out it's what I said last time you were here." Iruka sipped at his hot chocolate with a pleased mumble as the sweet, creamy goodness washed down his throat, "It wasn't my intention."

 

"You didn't," Wolf laid down his book and watched Iruka as the chuunin let his eyes close so the other man could drink his beverage. "I think I'd forgotten, honestly."

 

"You'd forgotten?" Iruka mused.

 

"That I'm not the monster that I think I am, I've done terrible things, but I am still...a person." Sipping at his drink, Iruka paused at Wolf's words.

 

"Did I remind you?" he asked softly.

 

"Very much so," Wolf chuckled, and pushed his chair back, plonking his mug into the sink, "I should let you get to bed sensei, or to your grading."

 

"Wolf-" Iruka blurted out, "Can I do something?" 

 

"I couldn't refuse you, even if I wanted to," Wolf teased. Iruka stood, wobbly and blind with his eyes still closed tight so he couldn't peek. Wandering closer to the ANBU, reaching out until his hands bumped into the other's chest. Fingered skimming up the taller man's chest and neck, until he reached Wolf's cold porcelain mask. 

 

"I won't look," Iruka breathed, nudging the mask up until it was perched atop it's owner's head. Wolf shifted back briefly but caught himself, holding stock still. Their breath was sweet with the melted chocolate, and tiny marshmallows that had floated on top of the hot chocolate as Iruka leaned forward, pressing their lips together in a soft brush of a kiss. Wolf's hand raised, cupping Iruka's cheek tenderly as he drew Iruka in deeper. 

 

Hearts hammering in their chests, the pair broke apart slowly, breathing each other's breath in as they lingered. 

 

"Thank you, Kakashi," Iruka exhaled, dragging the ANBU down for another kiss.

 

 

 


End file.
